John Fisher

For other uses, seeJohn Fisher (disambiguation).

Saint John Fisher
Cardinal Bishop of Rochester
Depicted by a follower ofHans Holbein the Younger
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Metropolis	Canterbury
Diocese	Rochester
See	Rochester
Appointed	14 October 1504
Installed	24 April 1505
Term ended	2 January 1535
Predecessor	Richard FitzJames
Successor	Nicholas Heath
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of San Vitale
Orders
Ordination	17 December 1491 byThomas Rotherham
Consecration	24 November 1504 byWilliam Warham
Created cardinal	21 May 1535 byPope Paul III
Rank	Bishop,Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	c. 19 October 1469 Beverley,Yorkshire,Kingdom of England
Died	22 June 1535(1535-06-22)(aged 65) Tower Hill,London,Kingdom of England
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Motto	faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum ( "I shall make you fishers of men" )
Coat of arms
Sainthood
Feast day	22 June (Catholic Church) 6 July (Church of England) 9 July (Catholic pre-1969)
Venerated in	Catholic Church,Church of England,some of the other Churches in theAnglican Communion
Title as Saint	Bishop, cardinal and martyr, Bishop of Rochester, Reformation Martyr
Beatified	29 December 1886 Rome,Kingdom of Italy, byPope Leo XIII
Canonized	19 May 1935 Vatican City, byPope Pius XI
Patronage	Diocese of Rochester,Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester;Rochester, New York

Styles of John Fisher
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

John Fisher(c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was anEnglish Catholicbishop,cardinal,and theologian. Fisher was also an academic andChancellorof theUniversity of Cambridge.He is honoured as amartyrand saint by the Catholic Church.

Fisher was executed by order ofHenry VIIIduring theEnglish Reformationfor refusing to accept him as thesupreme head of the Church of Englandand for upholding theCatholic Church's doctrine ofpapal supremacy.He was named acardinalshortly before his death. He was canonized byPope Pius XI.He shares hisfeast daywithThomas Moreon 22 June in the Catholiccalendar of saintsand on 6 July in that of theChurch of England.

Biography

Early life

John Fisher was born atBeverley,Yorkshirein 1469,the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperousmercerof Beverley, and Agnes, his wife, who had produced four children. Robert Fisher died in 1477, buried in St.Mary's, the parish church; in his will, he bequeathed to his children and various poorhouses, churches, priests, and Masses.

John, who was then 8 years old, subsequently watched his mother remarry her second husband, a man named White, from which also emanated four children.

Fisher seems to have had close contacts with his extended family all his life. Fisher's early education was probably received in the school attached to the collegiate church in his home town.

University of Cambridge

Acknowledging Fisher's aptitude for learning, and being financially well-off, his mother assented to his admission into the University of Cambridge. In the 1482, at the age of twelve or thirteen, he left Lincoln for Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge had regressed and stagnated academically. In an oration done beforeHenry VIIin 1506, he recalled:

"At the time when your majesty first showed your concern for us, learning had begun to decline among us—this may have been the result of constant litigation with the town, or of the frequent plagues that beset us so that we lost many of our leading scholars, or of the lack of patrons of learning.Whatever the cause, we should indeed have been reduced to despair had not your majesty shone down upon us like the rising sun itself. "

Fisher studied at theUniversity of Cambridgefrom 1484, where atMichaelhousehe came under the influence ofWilliam Melton,a pastorally-minded theologian open to the new current of reform in studies arising from theRenaissance.Fisher earned aBachelor of Artsdegree in 1487. In 1491 proceeded to aMaster of Artsdegree and was elected afellowof his college.

Also in 1491 Fisher received a papal dispensation to enter the priesthood despite being under canonical age.On 17 December 1491 he was ordained into the priesthood, and appointed (nominal) Vicar ofNorthallerton,Yorkshire.

In 1494 he resigned thisbeneficeto becomeproctorof the university and three years later was appointed master debater, about which date he also became chaplain and confessor toMargaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby,mother ofKing Henry VII.

On 5 July 1501, he became adoctor of sacred theologyand 10 days later was electedVice-Chancellor of the university.Under Fisher's guidance, his patroness Lady Margaret foundedSt John'sandChrist's Collegesat Cambridge, and a Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at each of the two universities atOxfordandCambridge,Fisher himself becoming the first occupant of the Cambridge chair. From 1505 to 1508 he was also the President ofQueens' College.At the end of July 1516 he was at Cambridge for the opening of St John's College and consecrated the chapel.

Fisher's strategy was to assemble funds and attract to Cambridge leading scholars from Europe, promoting the study not only ofClassical LatinandGreekauthors, but ofHebrew.He placed great weight upon pastoral commitment, above all popular preaching by the endowed staff. Fisher had a vision to which he dedicated all his personal resources and energies. He managed despite occasional opposition to administer a whole university, one of only two in England. He conceived and saw through long-term projects.

Fisher's foundations were also dedicated to prayer for the dead, especially throughchantryfoundations. A stern and austere man, Fisher was known to place a human skull on the altar during Mass and on the table during meals.

John Fisher as a young man by Pietro Torrigiano.

Erasmus said of John Fisher: "He is the one man at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness of soul."

Bishop

Bypapal bulldated 14 October 1504, Fisher was appointed thebishop of Rochesterat the personal insistence of Henry VII.Rochester was then the poorest diocese in England and usually seen as a first step on an ecclesiastical career. Nonetheless, Fisher stayed there, presumably by his own choice, for the remaining 31 years of his life.

At the same time, like any English bishop of his day, Fisher had certain state duties. In particular, he maintained a passionate interest in the University of Cambridge. In 1504 he was elected the university's chancellor. Re-elected annually for 10 years, Fisher ultimately received a lifetime appointment. At this date he is also said to have acted as tutor to the future king,Henry VIII.As a preacher his reputation was so great that Fisher was appointed to preach the funeral oration for King Henry VII and the Lady Margaret, both of whom died in 1509, the texts being extant. Besides his share in the Lady Margaret's foundations, Fisher gave further proof of his zeal for learning by inducingErasmusto visit Cambridge. The latter attributes it ("Epistulae"6:2) to Fisher's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active molestation that it encountered at Oxford.

Despite his fame and eloquence, it was not long before Fisher came into conflict with the new King, his former pupil. The dispute arose over funds left by the Lady Margaret, the King's grandmother, for financing foundations at Cambridge.

In 1512 Fisher was nominated as one of the English representatives at theFifth Council of the Lateran,then sitting, but his journey to Rome was postponed, and finally abandoned.

Opposition to Lutheranism

Fisher was "the first theologian to diagnose justification through faith alone as the founding dogma of the Protestant Reformation."

Fisher has also been named, though without any real proof, as the true author of the royal treatise againstMartin Lutherentitled"Assertio septem sacramentorum"(Defence of the Seven Sacraments), published in 1521, which won for King Henry VIII the title"Fidei Defensor"(Defender of the Faith). Prior to this date Fisher had denounced variousabuses in the church,urging the need for disciplinary reforms.

In 1523, Fisher published a 200,000 word response to Martin Luther'sLatin:Assertio Omnium Articulor(Assertions):Latin:Assertionis Lutheranae Confutatio(Confutation of the Lutheran Assertions). Luther omitted some of the more provocative material from his German version, allowing the view that Fisher (and, the next year,Erasmus) had misunderstood Luther.Luther did not respond to Fisher.

On about 11 February 1526, at the King's command, he preached a famous sermon against Luther atSt Paul's Cross,the open-air pulpit outsideSt Paul's Cathedralin London. This was in the wake of numerous other controversial writings; the battle against heterodox teachings increasingly occupied Fisher's later years.

In 1529 Fisher was called to confirm withThomas Hitton,a follower ofWilliam Tyndalearrested for suspected heresy, that the records of his interviews and forthright admissions to ArchbishopWilliam Warhamwere correct and to convince Hitton to abjure.Failing this, Hitton was handed to the secular authorities and executed at the stake for heresy.William Tyndale,then living overseas, claimed that Hitton had beentorturedby the archbishops,however Protestant historianJohn Foxewho was diligent in passing on this kind of claim, does not claim this.

Defence of Catherine of Aragon

When Henry tried to annul his marriage toCatherine of Aragon,Fisher became the Queen's chief supporter.As such, he appeared on the Queen's behalf in the legates' court, where he startled the audience by the directness of his language and by declaring that, like StJohn the Baptist,he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage.Henry VIII, upon hearing this, grew so enraged by it that he composed a long Latin address to the legates in answer to the bishop's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared the royal anger.The removal of the cause to Rome brought Fisher's personal involvement to an end, but the King never forgave him for what he had done.

Henry's attack on church prerogatives

In November 1529, the "Long Parliament" of Henry's reign began encroaching on the Catholic Church's prerogatives. Fisher, as a member of the upper house, theHouse of Lords,at once warnedParliamentthat such acts could only end in the utter destruction of the Catholic Church in England. TheCommons,through their speaker, complained to the King that Fisher had disparagedParliament,presumably with Henry prompting them behind the scenes.Henry summoned Fisher before him, demanding an explanation. This being given, Henry declared himself satisfied, leaving it to the Commons to declare that the explanation was inadequate, so that he appeared as a magnanimous sovereign, instead of Fisher's enemy.

A year later, in 1530, the continued encroachments on the Church moved Fisher, as bishop of Rochester, along with thebishops of BathandEly,to appeal to the Holy See. This gave the King his opportunity and an edict forbidding such appeals was immediately issued, and the three bishops were arrested. Their imprisonment, however, must have lasted only a few months for in February 1531,Convocationmet, and Fisher was present. This was the occasion when the clergy were forced, at a cost of 100,000 pounds, to purchase the King's pardon for having recognizedCardinal Wolsey's authority as legate of the pope; and at the same time to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, to which phrase the addition of the clause "so far as God's law permits" was made through Fisher's efforts.

This yere was a coke boylyd in a cauderne inSmythfeldfor he wolde a powsyned the bishop of Rochester Fycher with dyvers of hys servanttes, and he was lockyd in a chayne and pullyd up and downe with agybbytat dyvers tymes tyll he was dede.

Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London,1531

Poisoned porridge and canonball

A few days later, several of Fisher's household were taken ill after eating some porridge served to the household and two died: however Fisher was fasting that day.Henry VIIIhad parliament enact a retroactive bill that allowed the cook,Richard Roose,to be executed by the state byboiling alivefor attempted poisoning without a public trial.

On another occasion in 1530, a canonball fired from across the Thames hit Fisher's house, narrowly missing his study.This was rumoured to be a warning or assassination attempt from theBoleyn family.

Intrigues with the Holy Roman Emperor

Fisher also engaged in secret activities to overthrow Henry. As early as 1531 he began secretly communicating with foreign diplomats. In September 1533 communicating secretly through the imperial ambassadorEustace Chapuyshe encouragedHoly Roman EmperorCharles Vto invade England and depose Henry in combination with a domestic uprising.

"The King's Great Matter"

Main article:The King's Great Matter

John Fisher byGerard Valck,afterAdriaen van der Werff,1697.

Matters now moved rapidly. In May 1532, SirThomas Moreresigned the chancellorship and, in June, Fisher preached publicly against the annulment. In August,William Warham,Archbishop of Canterbury, died andThomas Cranmerwas at once proposed by Henry to the Pope as his successor. In January of the next year, Henry secretly went through a form of marriage withAnne Boleyn.Cranmer's consecration as a bishop took place in March 1533, and, a week later, Fisher was arrested. It seems that the purpose of this arrest was to prevent him from opposing the annulment which Cranmer pronounced in May, or the coronation of Anne Boleyn which followed on 1 June, for Fisher was set at liberty again within a fortnight of the latter event, no charge being made against him.

In the autumn of 1533, various arrests were made in connection with the so-called revelations of the Holy Maid of Kent,Elizabeth Barton,but as Fisher was taken seriously ill in December, proceedings against him were postponed for a time. However, in March 1534, a specialBill of Attainderagainst Fisher and others for complicity in the matter of the Maid of Kent was introduced inParliamentand passed. By this, Fisher was condemned to forfeit all his personal estate and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. Subsequently, a pardon was granted him on payment of a fine of 300 pounds.

Succession and supremacy

The same session of Parliament passed theFirst Succession Act,by which all who should be called upon to do so were compelled to take an oath of succession, acknowledging the issue of Henry and Anne as legitimate heirs to the throne, under pain of being guilty ofmisprision of treason.Fisher refused the oath and was imprisoned in theTower of Londonon 26 April 1534.Several efforts were made to induce him to submit, but without effect, and in November he was attained of misprision of treason a second time, his goods being forfeited as from the previous 1 March, and the See of Rochester being declared vacant as of 2 June following. He was to remain in the Tower for over a year, and while he was allowed food and drink sent by friends, and a servant, he was not allowed a priest, even to the very end. A long letter exists, written from the Tower by Fisher toThomas Cromwell,speaking of the severity of his conditions of imprisonment.

Like Thomas More, Bishop Fisher believed that, because the statute condemned only those speaking maliciously against the King's new title, there was safety in silence. However, on 7 May he fell into a trap laid for him byRichard Rich,who was to perjure himself to obtain Thomas More's conviction. Rich told Fisher that for his own conscience's sake the King wished to know, in strict secrecy, Fisher's real opinion. Fisher, once again, declared that the King was not Supreme Head of the Church of England.

Cardinalate and martyrdom

Memorial space at theTower Hillpublic execution site

In May 1535, the newly electedPope Paul IIIcreated FisherCardinal PriestofSan Vitale,apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse:Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead.

In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on Thursday, 17 June, he was arraigned inWestminster Hallbefore a court of seventeen, includingThomas Cromwell,Anne Boleyn'sfather,and ten justices. The charge wastreason,in that he denied that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Since he had been deprived of his position ofBishop of Rochesterby theAct of Attainder,he was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. The only testimony was that of Richard Rich. John Fisher was found guilty and condemned to behanged, drawn and quarteredatTyburn.

The Bell Tower, where John Fisher was held during his prison time together withThomas More,though imprisoned separately therein.

However, a public outcry was brewing among the London populace who saw a sinister irony in the parallels between the conviction of Fisher and that of his patronal namesake,Saint John the Baptist,who was executed by KingHerod Antipasfor challenging the validity of Herod's marriage to his brother's divorcéeHerodias.For fear of John Fisher's living through his patronalfeast day,that of theNativity of St. John the Baptiston 24 June, and of attracting too much public sympathy, King Henry commuted the sentence to that ofbeheading,to be accomplished before 23 June, the Vigil of the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

He was executed onTower Hillon 22 June 1535.The execution had the opposite effect from that which King Henry VIII intended, as it created yet another parallel with that of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day ofSaint Alban,the first martyr of Britain.

Fisher met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed those present. His body was treated with particular rancour, apparently on Henry's orders, being stripped and left on the scaffold until the evening,when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows' Barking, also known asAll Hallows-by-the-Tower.There was no funeral prayer. A fortnight later, his body was laid beside that of SirThomas Morein the chapel ofSt Peter ad Vinculawithin theTower of London.Fisher's head wasstuck upon a poleonLondon Bridgebut its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into theThames,its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas More, whose execution, also at Tower Hill, occurred on 6 July.

"Catholic piety conventionally explains the scarlet robes that Cardinals wear as a sign of their readiness to shed their blood for the sake of the Christian gospel. This is an edifying thought: but as a matter of fact, in the whole millenium-long history of the cardinalate, only one member of the Sacred College has actually ever suffered martyrdom. That man was John Fisher. (...)

— Eamon Duffy

Writings

A list of Fisher's writings is found inJoseph Gillow'sBibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics(London, s.d.), II, 262–270. There are twenty-six works in all, printed and manuscript, mostly ascetical or controversial treatises, several of which have been reprinted many times. The original editions are very rare and valuable. The principal are:

• Treatise concernynge... the seven penytencyall Psalms(London, 1508)
• Sermon... agayn ye pernicyous doctrin of Martin Luther(London, 1521)
• Assertionis Lutheranae Confutatio(Confutation of the Lutheran Assertions) (1523)
• Defensio Henrici VIII(Cologne, 1525)
• De Veritate Corporis et Sanguinis Christi in Eucharistia, adversus Johannem Oecolampadium(Cologne, 1527)
• De Causa Matrimonii... Henrici VIII cum Catharina Aragonensi(Alcalá de Henares, 1530)
• The Wayes to Perfect Religion(London, 1535)
• A Spirituall Consolation written... to hys sister Elizabeth(London, 1735)

Legacy

Canonisation

Saint John Fisher Bishop of Rochester
Bishop and Martyr
Born	19 October 1469 Beverley,Yorkshire,Kingdom of England
Died	22 June 1535 (aged 65) Tower Hill,Tower of London,London,Kingdom of England
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	29 December 1886,RomebyLeo XIII
Canonized	19 May 1935,Vatican CitybyPius XI
Feast	22 June

Fisher wasbeatifiedbyPope Leo XIIIwithThomas Moreand52 other English Martyrson 29 December 1886. In the Decree of Beatification, the greatest place was given to Fisher.

He wascanonised,with Thomas More, on 19 May 1935 by Pope Pius XI, after the presentation of a petition by English Catholics.His feast day, for celebration jointly with St Thomas More, is on 22 June (the date of Fisher's execution). In 1980, despite being an opponent of theEnglish Reformation,Fisher was added to theChurch of England'scalendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church,jointly with Thomas More, to becommemoratedevery6 July(the date of More's execution) as "Thomas More, Scholar, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Reformation Martyrs, 1535".He is also listed along withThomas Morein thecalendar of saintsof some of the other Churches of theAnglican Communion,such asThe Anglican Church of Australia.

Patronage

Australia

• St John Fisher Collegeat theUniversity of TasmaniainHobart
• St John Fisher Catholic High school inBracken Ridge, Queensland
• St John Fisher Church(Kurnell), Sydney, Australia
• St John Fisher Church(Tarragindi), Brisbane, Queensland

Canada

• St. John Fisher Catholic School, Scarborough
• Fisher Hall, one of the residence halls at Saint Michael's College at the University of Toronto
• St. John Fisher R.C. School, Forest, Ontario
• St. John Fisher Parish, Bramalea (Brampton), Ontario
• St. John Fisher Elementary School, Pointe-Claire, Quebec

United Kingdom

• TheUniversity of Cambridge:
  • Fisher House, theCambridge University Catholic Chaplaincy.
  • Fisher Building, a student accommodation atQueens' College,where Fisher was president from 1505 to 1508
  • The Fisher Building, conference centre and meeting rooms inSt John's College
• Schools:
  • St John Fisher Catholic CollegeinNewcastle-under-Lyme,Staffordshire
  • St John Fisher Catholic High SchoolinHarrogate,North Yorkshire
  • St John Fisher Catholic High SchoolinPeterborough,Cambridgeshire.
  • St John Fisher Catholic High School,Wigan, Lancashire
  • St John Fisher Catholic Schoolin Chatham, Kent.
  • St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary AcademyinDewsbury,West Yorkshire
  • Ss John Fisher and Thomas More Roman Catholic High School,Colne, Lancashire
  • The John Fisher Schoollocated inPurley,Surrey
• St John Fisher Catholic Primary School, Loughton, Essex
• Churches:
  • Saint John Fisher parish, Kidbrooke, London
  • Saint John Fisher Roman Catholic Church, Harrow, London
  • Saint John Fisher Roman Catholic Church, Shepperton, London
  • Saint John Fisher Roman Catholic Church, Rochester, Kent
  • John Fisher R.C. Church, Scarthoe, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire. (Closed 2017)
  • Saint John Fisher R.C. Church, Priory Crescent, Southend on Sea, Essex
  • Saint John Fisher Church,Cambourne,Cambridgeshire
• Other:
  • St John Fisher House,Reading– the headquarters of theFSSPinEnglandandWales.
  • The football teamsFisher Athletic F.C.(1908–2009) andFisher F.C.(founded 2009) ofRotherhithe,south-east London

United States

• Fisher is the patron of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Rochesterin New York State, so named byPope John XXIIIin 1961.
• Due to his status as the Bishop of Rochester, Fisher has been adopted as a patron of several institutions in other cities named Rochester, including:
  • St. John Fisher University
  • Saint John of Rochester Catholic Church in theRochester, New Yorkarea,
  • Saint John Fisher Catholic Church near Rochester, Michigan.
• St. John Fisher Seminary Residenceis located in the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• A number of parishes are dedicated to St. John Fisher including those in: Chicago, Illinois;Auburn Hills, Michigan;Cincinnati, Ohio;Boothwyn, Pennsylvania,Galveston, Texas,Rancho Palos Verdes,California,and Portland, Oregon:
  • St John Fisher Catholic Church inTulsa,Oklahoma
  • St John Fisher Catholic Church nearPittsburgh,Pennsylvania.
  • Saint John Fisher Church, Newtown, Ohio
  • St John Fisher Catholic Church inMarlborough, Connecticut.

Personal

Portraits

Several portraits of Fisher exist, the most prominent being byHans Holbein the Youngerin the Royal Collection; and a fewsecondary relicsare extant.

Relic

Fisher's walking-staff is in the possession of the Eyston family ofEast Hendred,inOxfordshire(formerlyBerkshire).

Cinematic and television portrayals

John Fisher was portrayed by veteran actorJoseph O'Conorin the filmAnne of the Thousand Days(1969), byBosco Hoganin the miniseriesThe Tudors,byGeoffrey Lewisin the 1971 miniseriesThe Six Wives of Henry VIIIand byRichard Durdenin the 2015 miniseriesWolf Hall.

Further reading

• "The English Works of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (1469–1535): Sermons and other Writings, 1520–1535," edited by Cecilia A. Hatt, Oxford University Press, 2002.
• B. Bradshaw &Eamon Duffy(ed.) "Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher," Cambridge University Press, 1989.
• MacNabb, Vincent (2015).St. John Fisher.Mediatrix Press.ISBN978-1953746337.
• Vincent Nichols,"St John Fisher: Bishop and Theologian in Reformation and Controversy", Alive Publishing, 2011.
• E. E. Reynolds, "Saint John Fisher," Wheathampstead: Anthony Clarke, 1972.
• Richard Rex,"The Theology of John Fisher," Cambridge University Press
• Edward Surtz,"The Works and Days of John Fisher," Boston: Harvard University Press, 1967.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Fisher, John". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 42–43.ISBN3-88309-032-8.

External links

• "St. John Fisher"in theCatholic Encyclopedia

• John Fisher and Thomas More: Martyrs of England and Wales
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Fisher, John".Encyclopedia Americana.1920.
  • Hudleston, Gilbert Roger (1913). "Bl. John Fisher".Catholic Encyclopedia.
  • "Fisher, John".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). 1911.
  • "Fisher, John",A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature,1910 – viaWikisource
  • Mullinger, James Bass(1889). "Fisher, John (1459?-1535)".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 19.
  • "Fisher, John".The American Cyclopædia.1879.
• "John Fisher".Catholic-Hierarchy.org.David M. Cheney.
• Literature by and about John Fisherin theGerman National Librarycatalogue